Bloggers, Journalists, Pros, Amateurs
February 16th, 2006 by Vince Chan :: As part of my midnight reading, I came upon fellow Canadian blogger,
Her rebuttal revealed some very interesting tidbits about old media
Most of the bloggers I know and link to feel compromised at the very idea of advertising. And of the good bloggers who have decided to feature advertising, most have done so with great reluctance and/or embarassment. Don’t get me wrong, I do not have a problem with bloggers who choose to advertise. Particularly if advertising is about paying for your hosting or a blog related cost. And most especially if you are producing content that is not dictated by Google adsense revenues. This is the difference between taste and money grubbing.
Wow! This is very similar to AmBlogger’s theory! It is true that too many people are relying on Google adsense for revenue and quite a few prominent bloggers like
Melanie also gave some good tips for aspiring “pro” bloggers:
- Create meaningful, worthwhile content before anything else
- Know and memorize Blood’s law
- Do not attempt to reinvent the wheel before you’ve learned how to drive
- Read the very best blogs first and research the form before you presume to speak for a particular community
- Earn a context for yourself through merit and quality
- Do not expect an audience before you have earned it
- The best blogs have been on the scene for years - not weeks or months
- Advertising revenue isn’t a goal, it’s the end of the road
- Paid bloggers are, properly, journalists (i.e., Wonkette = journalism). there are no pros or amateurs, just bloggers.
- Check your ego - again, selling T-shirts about your blog after a month on the scene is like plugging a novel you have yet to write.
I’ll kindly disagree with Melanie’s view of pro and amateur bloggers as it sounds more like an idealistic view of a situation that is very real in its separation. There are many bloggers motivated to start purely on monetary reasons while others are happy simply to exercise their craft.
Melanie summarizes:
- Bloggers do not wish to be journalists. Nor do most of us feel the need to appeal to a “wider audience” (that’s old media - we’re not interested in reproducing or replacing old media).
- Bloggers are not diarists (no matter how many journalists try to say that’s what we are doing).
- Journalists are not more interesting than bloggers because they are getting paid to write.
- Journalists will not redefine blogging simply because they wish to do so.
- Bloggers define blogging. We the media have a voice that is not your voice.
- We are not diarists.
My Takeaway
I agree on everything Melanie covered here. Melanie defined blog media as “public participatory media“, excellent! I do believe Bloggers are NOT
4 Responses to “Bloggers, Journalists, Pros, Amateurs”
Oooo.. is this where I get to explain my feelings about amateurs vs. pros? Too bad, biatch! heh. Sorry, it’s been a very long day, and I’m stressed beyond belief, I needed to blow off some steam.
Okay, here’s the short of it (the long of it is to come on my blog in an article I have yet to write):
Pro bloggers: Have an interest in their topic(s), although it may only be a passing interest. They blog about their topic because it is lucrative. In other words, they blog primarily for income. If the governments of the world banned advertising online, they’d most likely close down their blogs.
Amateur bloggers: Have a definitve interest in their topic(s). They blog about their topic because it is their passion. They would continue to blog with, or without ads, at the same frequency and level.
Pro-Am Bloggers (Professional Amateurs): Same as amateur bloggers, but realize the viability of openings blogs primarily for profit, although they do so only on topics they truly enjoy. They would continue to blog on all of their blogs, without ads, although all but the topics they hold dear would see fewer updates.
Blog Network Owners: Are the devil incarnate. (Hey, wait a minute! I’m hoping to start a blog network!)
First of all, thanks for this indepth response to my blogpost. I appreciate the time and thought you put into this.
For the record, I do not have a huge problem with the idea of a professional blog. What I have a problem with is the associated hubris and arrogance of some of these people to reject the notion of community while expecting an instant readership. Additionally, what many of these people are doing, since many of them have not emerged from the original grassroots media community, is to simply reproduce the most superficial Old Media content (complete with advertising). Compare that kind of thing with the content of established bloggers and you see the difference. But the thing that irked me the most, that inspired the post above, was the hack approach the newbie journalist took to his subject matter. It would have taken him less than ten minutes to dig up the most basic history of blogging but instead he chose to work in sweeping generalisations that were all too convenient to his own, specious, arguments. Moreover, he contributed the most vulgar addition to a debate that has been waged by far superior journalists and bloggers for many years. Again, had he done even the most basic research he might have produced a more factual, relevant and interesting piece.
This kind of shoddy journalism is one of the reasons so many people turn to alternative and participatory media. We’re tired of unintelligent, superficial, uninteresting bullshit that serves the interests of consumerism, corporations and a vapid status quo.
There are a great many wonderful and highly skilled bloggers out there who have no writing or journalism training. Some of these people have made a name for themselves producing what might otherwise be called “journalism”. But since they are not trained or paid or associated with established media they are called “amateur”. The problem here is the fact that there are a great many journalism graduates who manage to make it into the “professional” media with subpar writing, research and analytical skill. Many of the ones who get jobs in the corporate media get those jobs based on their willingness to produce the most questionable content. In many cases, these are the least political journalism graduates. They’re not the ones who were writing quality, hard hitting stuff. Those kids have a much harder time finding work (because there’s so much competition from older, more established, journalists for that work - the real work). Instead, the corporate media favours an exploit-n-turf model of production. And I stress: they’re not looking for intelligence or analysis. They’re looking for willlingness. Willingness to turn a blind eye, willingness to defer, willingness to do what you’re told. Does this sound like the corporate world? It should. That’s the new media model and that’s why there’s so much crap out there.
What all of you have right now is a wonderful opportunity to write about what matters to you. Certainly, there’s plenty of crap blogging going on but there’s also a lot of very hard hitting content being produced. Content that is actually having an impact on things. On politics, culture, consumerism, class, race, sexuality. People are speaking up for themselves - instead of allowing a right wing corporate media define them. I ask young writers the following question all the time:
“Who is telling *your* story?” and “How well is the mainstream media representing you, your beliefs, your values, your perceptions?” … usually the answer is “nobody” and “not very well” … and so I encourage them to tell their own stories. To write what they know. To talk about what makes them angry and what inspires them. To publish their reflections and perceptions about news, politics, culture, society, class, race, gender, anything and everything. But it’s *theirs* …
The Big Media are compromised by their corporate ownership. There are a lot of websites that explain precisely who owns what. And so, if you’ve got a news source that is owned by fatcat media conglomerate and they’re reviewing movies produced by fatcat media conglomerate you get the picture. Or if you’ve got OldBoyMedia Inc and OldBoyMedia Inc is owned by CEOs with well established ties to the Republican party you can bet that the content in OldBoyMedia is going to be very pro-Republican.
And this is why the public media - BBC, CBC, PBS, NPR are fighting for their lives. They’re fighting for the primacy of quality content. They’re fighting for the true and traditional definitions of journalism. And that’s very, very different than what the corporate media are doing.
Additionally, and on a final note, I don’t give a damn if other people advertise on their sites. I just think it’s tacky when a so-called “professional” blogger (who has been on the scene all of five minutes) is already shilling T-shirts for their blog. It’s an astonishing entitlement. What these people don’t realise is that an audience is earned - not bought. But then, they’ve been told a big media lie: now that you’re being paid, you matter.
Just back from errands, and Woot! there’s your comment, thanks Mel!
“Pro” bloggers are a name they’ve given themselves. Being paid by Adsense is a plug-n-play profession that has resulted in success by only a handful, but that dream of “passive income” has rubbed off on young impressionable minds. But there is nothing passive about blogging! Chasing that elusive dream is one of the big things holding back bloggers nowadays.
You are right about our opportunity. I want to add that Bloggers who haven’t written that hard-hitting content should not stop. Keep blogging your thoughts and not someone else’s as we are all diamonds in the rough.
Sensationalism, tabloidism is rampart. I wish the days would come back that are depicted in Good Night, and Good Luck. When journalists gave a damn about stories that they believe instead of stories that are fed to them or topics that can feed them.
[...] The new poll of the month will have simple choices. March’s poll was inspired by my previous post - Bloggers, Journalists, Pros, Amateurs. I want to find out from you, money aside, whether you find advertising and advertisements on Blogs to be tacky and compromising the idea of blogging? Cast your votes! Technorati Tags: poll, advertising, advertisements More from General | [...]